Campsite #12, Sapporo (Ft Otaru): Camping in Hokkaido's Largest City

After all the talk about gentle countryside towns and isolated spots, you may be thinking, wait, what?!! You're in a city now?!!

Well, I wasn't going to miss out on finding out what all the fuss was about regarding Hokkaido's regional capital and Japan's fifth largest city, Sapporo.

...Well, all right, maybe it wasn't exactly high on my bucket list, but it still seemed worth a visit and maybe it would be good to get off my country bumpkin trail for a little while. Most importantly, though, I had friends I wanted to visit there, who had recently gotten married and moved in together. By recent, it turned out to be...

Oops. Looks like some delays in flights meant that one of my friends, an American, hadn't even arrived yet. Awkward!

I wanted my visit to be a surprise to her, so I was only in contact with her husband, who was Japanese and had already been living in Sapporo for a couple of months. We'd also been friends since around the same time I'd met his wife, which was when they'd started dating.

In any case, it seemed as though my surprise visit might be a bit too much of a surprise this early in the game,*Sigh*. Looks like I should've gone to Shiretoko first after all...

For privacy's sake, let's refer to my friends as Liz and Takeshi. So, naturally Takeshi wanted a bit of time alone with Liz when she first arrived, and I didn't want to be busting in just as soon as she made it to the airport. So I told Takeshi I would entertain myself for the first couple of nights.

And entertaining myself meant finding a place to stay before I nosied my way into their apartment. Being in a big city meant campgrounds were well out of the way, and Michi no eki were not really a thing. (Asahikawa is the only exception to this I've ever come across.) So cross those options off the list for camping and we're left with parks.

Like every city in Japan, Sapporo has a number of parks, of which the most popular might be Odori Park. Located amidst Sapporo's main attractions, such as the Sapporo Tower and various museums, it's often host to festivals and other activities. While I visited the park during my stay, this seemed a little too crowded and active of a place to go camping. Plus it was a little far from my friends' address—the city of Sapporo is quite spread out compared to a lot of Japanese cities I've been to, and it was a half hour walk between most of the major areas. Not that this really bothers me much normally, but it's a pain when you're dragging luggage around. (As explained in my previous posts, I didn't have the most ideal luggage situation for my intended travels, but it couldn't be helped.)

In the end, I settled for camping beside the Toyohira River. There are grassy areas all along it, which I believe are considered as one massive "park," though individual points along the river are also called different park names, which is a little confusing.

Since it was looking a little rainy, I pitched right under the bridge. To my total shock, I woke up the first morning to find another person freedom camping just metres away from me. What the...?!!!

Even more surprisingly, it was a Japanese person (download my camping guide to read about why this would surprise me), a young male dressed in outdoor gear.

I'd never expected to see anyone else freedom camping in Japan and was quite taken aback, which is pretty ironic when you consider I'm writing a blog about it!

Like me, he must have arrived at night and come intentionally with his tent, looking for a place to camp. But the fact that he'd pitched right next to my tent was interesting to me. Though I'm aware this sort of behaviour—i.e. choosing a spot right next to someone else when there is a whole area to choose from—is fairly common outside of New Zealand (not just camping, but also on beaches, etc.), it did make me wonder whether he'd somehow questioned the acceptability of pitching his tent in a city before doing it—but then had seen another tent already there and thought it was okay or normal to do so. Unlikely, I guess, but still possible.

He was packing up his tent in the morning and smiling at me in a friendly sort of way, so I decided to strike up a conversation. Turns out he goes camping a fair bit, and had come to Sapporo to go to an event with his friends. He was from somewhere else in Hokkaido, the name of which escapes my memory.

Well, with my neighbour gone I had the park all to myself, and aside from visitors to the bowling club close by there wasn't really anyone around, I guess because it was such a long, stretched out "park." The people I did see tended to be joggers.

The beer museum was a pretty interesting peek into the history of beer in Japan. If you're interested in the history part but not the beer part, you'll probably still like it.

They also sell really cool Sapporo beer clothing. I usually avoid accumulating junk and have little interest in souvenirs, but this was the one time on my trip I caved.

Another thing Sapporo is known for is its food. I feel like this is the main thing to do in Sapporo, really. For an activity-loving traveler like myself Sapporo wasn't a huge deal, but for foodies it must be heaven.

That's not to say I didn't love the food myself. Soup curry was probably my favourite, as for whatever reason I hadn't ever tried this in Japan before. It's also the only really spicy Japanese dish I've had (though you can order mild and most Japanese people do) and I'm a sucker for spice.

You can find lists of the most famous restaurants for particular dishes in Sapporo all across the internet. But beware that these are so popular there are almost always queues. The first three or so restaurants I went to for soup curry had such long waiting lists I moved on 'til I found a more reasonable one, which was still ranked as one of the top.

I must admit I'm not entirely sure what these rankings are based on. While I'm sure they are all excellent, I think there are many lesser-known restaurants selling the same dish and it tastes just as delicious. Correct me if you've experienced otherwise—maybe my taste just isn't that refined—but I personally don't see a reason to get too hung up about making it to one of the top, top restaurants.

For instance, the ramen in the pic below is from a place I found after giving up on the queues at famous restaurants for ramen (miso ramen is particularly popular in Sapporo) and it tasted absolutely divine to me.

OTARU

When I finally met up with my friends, it was the first time for me on my 5 week trip through Hokkaido to stay inside an actual building and not my tent (excluding one night in a hostel in Asahikawa). We decided to take a day trip to Otaru the next day.

Otaru was a delight. Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to camp there, but I would have loved to. Definitely on my list for next time.

The town boasts a lot of arts and crafts shops and stalls along a canal. We also saw a fair few street performers which I have never seen anywhere in Japan before (excluding Tokyo--busking in Japan is generally not a thing).

Although Otaru is most known for its glass artworks, the souvenir I ended up buying was from a rough stall on the side of a canal: two small stones with a fox and cranes painted intricately against colourful blue and red backgrounds. I'm a sucker for animal art. If I ever get rich that's what I'll spend my money on!

Aside from glass art museums, Otaru also has a very cool music box museum. You can see, and buy, music boxes of all shapes and tunes.

Otaru was a really neat town and I would love to spend more time there. I'm sure it would be awesome to find a little hidden spot somewhere near the canal and soak up the cheerful atmosphere.

If anyone has camped in Otaru please share your spots!

Next up, I'm on to Shiretoko National Park, the place I've been most looking forward to going, and the place that really inspired me to visit Hokkaido.

To catch up on the rest of my camping travel series, check out https://elisooker.wordpress.com/wheres-eli-now/

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